A cruise ship that disembarked over 200 passengers who had paid tens of thousands of dollars to live on the vessel for three years left a Cambodian port this week, with only staff on board.
The Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship docked in the Cambodian town of Sihanoukville last week and suspended operations after its Florida-based operator said the rising costs of fuel from the Iran war made its journey financially untenable, leaving those living on board stranded.
Cambodia’s Minister of Tourism Huot Hak (R) and Captain Emanuele Giudice (C) disembark from the Villa Vie Residences’ cruise ship Odyssey at Sihanoukville port in Preah Sihanouk province on October 29, 2026.
Getty Images
The ship left with no passengers and around 50 crew members on Tuesday, according to Taing Sochitkrishna, head of the Sihanoukville tourism department, Reuters reported. He told the U.K. news agency that around 100 passengers were still in Cambodia, and that others had mostly flown to other destinations in the region.
Passengers were able to unload their remaining belongings from the vessel on Tuesday; many said they did not expect to come back to the ship.
“There are still many things on the ship that I wish I could take with me,” Shirine Thomas, of Wilmington, North Carolina, told Reuters shortly after collecting her final possessions.
The cruise, which is operated by Villa Vie Residences, had been at sea for 755 days with 203 passengers on board when it decided to halt its journey.
The ship allowed passengers to rent or even buy long-term and permanent residences on board. The operator wrote in a press release last week that the cost of operating a single cabin had increased significantly since the cruise first set sail over two years ago and that it could not rely on passengers to shoulder rate hikes.
“Fuel costs have risen sharply in the regions where the company has been operating,” it said last week, noting that monthly costs per cabin had skyrocketed from USD $1,800 to an estimated $6,000 to $8,000. It attributed the problem to the war in the Iran.
A woman walks onboard the Villa Vie Residences’ cruise ship Odyssey docked at Sihanoukville port in Preah Sihanouk province on October 29, 2026. Around 200 passengers who paid to live on a cruise ship while travelling the world were abruptly left in a Cambodian port after the company ran out of money, an official said on October 28.
TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP via Getty Images
Traffic has been reduced in the Strait of Hormuz since the war in Iran began, straining supply chains of all kinds of petroleum-based fuels, especially in Southeast Asia, and sharply increasing prices.
The operators said the company would support stranded passengers in providing temporary accommodations, but some on board said they had received no help.
Sixty-seven-year-old retired high school teacher Mary Ann Demsar from Ontario, Canada, told Reuters that the owners had not provided information on whether the voyage would continue.
“We don’t get any clear indication from the owners of Villa Vie as to what is happening,” she said. “They’ve been so quiet; the only information we get is from the wonderful government and the representatives here in Cambodia.”
She also told NBC News that she remains in Cambodia with other passengers who watched the ship leave port on Tuesday.
Villa Vie Residences has not confirmed where the ship’s final destination will be. Demsar told the U.S. news outlet she heard rumours it was heading to Singapore.
The purchase price for a suite on the vessel starts at $230,000, according to the Associated Press.
Most of the people on board were Americans.
The ship had 156 crew members and a passenger capacity of 650.
— with files from Reuters
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
